ups... me thinks i've been a bit naive steven for thinking all of my questions have already been answered after just reading Beach's introduction to indian trains.
after checking out your site i am more than impressed!!!

Beach, Shimla, many others and myself try very hard to help people understand Indian Railways, when truthfully, I don’t think any of us will ever fully understand IR.

I still learn new things every day, I wanted to do a long post a few months ago about train fares, after months of research I had to put the whole plan on hold, nobody could answer my questions about Circular Journey tickets.

I tried IRFCA (Indian Railways Fan Club Association), also the Indian Railways Discussion Forum, and even sent e-mails to the relative departments of Indian Railways, nobody could give satisfactory answers.

What is your query on Circular Journey Tickets? Information on this is provided in some detail in the Zonal Time Tables. If you could lay your hands on one of these, preferably W.R. or C.R., I think you'll have the answers.

I worked for a year on trains out of Euston (London), then for 4 years on London Underground (Station side, not train side), but this was enough to give me an understanding of train operations and timetables.

My obsession with Indian Railways (and sadly, I believe it is an obsession) stems from an original frustration at not being able to get train information before my first trip to India.

Then I landed in Chennai, found the excellent Southern Railways (SR) train timetable (there the people who designed the fantastic 'all India’, ‘Trains at a Glance' timetable), I then done a first class train journey to Mettupalaiyam, then the Blue Mountain toy train to Ooty, then a memorable train journey from Mysore to Bangalore, by the end of that train ride, I had fallen in love with India and Indian trains.

My next trip was going to be to Rajasthan, but yet again, finding local train info was virtually imposable, this lead me to certain Indian train forums, they were of little use if you wanted tourist info (like train times), but if you ever want to know the working life of a particular 60 year old Indian train engine, I can tell you where to ask.

These site's did introduce me to Samit Roychoudhury, a fantastic source of information about Indian Railways, with his help I learnt lots of stuff, he has sent me virtually all the regional timetables (only West Central and Southeast Central left to find).

So there you have it, I couldn't tell you how to get from London to Newcastle (my home town) by train, as I usually take the bus, but I can tell you how to get from anywhere in India to anywhere else in India.

When I spot a train in India I always want to get on it and see where I end up, does that make me an Indian Train spotter?

I'll buy a special anorak, flask and pen & notepad and meet you at the end of platform 1 at Victoria, don't forget the biscuits.

I queued up at Harrods to meet Maggie and get her book 'The Downing Street Years' signed, as I was first in the queue (that sleeping bag come in useful) some newspapers interviewed me, the Daily Star reported "he looked a little like a trainspotter"

I have a quick question for you. I have been quoted £29 for a return ticket from Delhi to Varanasi in AC 2 tier.

I have checked your various threads and it looks like a return ticket works out about £20, would you say that's about right? I just want to check I'm not paying too much on top. I'm happy to pay something though, as the train system is confusing me.

Also, in your opinion, if I had to miss Jodhpur off my itineary would I be missing out? (am visiting Jaipur and Udaipur and don't want to do too much in the short space of time that I have).

Originally posted by steven_ber OK, small confession, I am not a trainspotter

You can literally spot your train(here) . Just select the train and you can see the train moving just like a plane gives a blip on the screen.

On the southern railway just select a train. The corresponding route map will appear with all the trains running at the time.
For the Konkan railways just keep your mouse pointer near a station on the track shown to see the details.

The western railways shows a chart of arrival and departure of trains.
(I liked the S Railway format)

A side note:
Reservation/Cancellation counter closing time is extended from 8.00 to 10.00 p.m. at certain locations. An info for those going directly to the counters